St. James Club Information

A sociable club-like ambience prevails throughout, the visiting yachts contributing a dash of glamour. At its heart lie the guest rooms, restaurants and recreational opportunities of The Club, while The Village is an adjacent sanctuary of residential-style villas tumbling down a gentle hillside towards the bay.

Emagine my surprise to see no reviews on Antigua. My wife & I just returned from St. James Club @ Antigua...very small island only 80000 population. Caters to primarily European visitors especially from the UK...no wonder they drive on the right hand side of the road. You can drive across the whole island in 30 minutes.
St. James Club is situated on SW tip of the island, with Atlantic Ocean on one side & Mamora Bay on the other..the bay is well sheltered & boasts all their non-motorized water sports.
St. James does not use the bracelet system to denote All inclusive so you have to sign your name & room number for EVERYthing..it took no fewer than 6 signatures to rent a 2 man kayak...most drinks are rum based with the fruit punch & rum punch being the Premixed mainstays...don't worry about drinking too much because none of the drinks are strong & you have to sign for every one of them...
There are 4 restaurants...all of which you must make reservations for dinner no more than 24 hours in advance...however, even though we would try to get the early time slot ( 6.30 PM ) at 9 AM the previous morning they were already booked up !!!
...Docksider ...poor food...stay away
...Coco's...beach grub...burgers, salads...not bad
...Rainbow Garden...main buffet @ reception area...probably the best but not overly impressive
...Piccolo's...$35 each surcharge with dress code in effect...save your money unless you like your beef filet overcooked....

Ammenties...Poor Air Conditioning...we had room 345 overlooking the Atlantic...spectacular view...we complained re. lack of A/C...tech inspected it & said it was working properly...we would set it to 65 F but system works on heat sensors so when you left the room it SHUTS OFF...the temp never got below 74 F the entire week...
...Empty fridge...all resorts we have previously stayed at had the fridge full of free water, pop, juice & local beers...nothing at St.James Club...

Antigua...beatiful water, beaches, weather, people ...just don't do st. James Club......Steve Brown

the scenery was beautiful and the grounds were well kept, but the staff was usually unfriendly and not accommodating at all. The nightly entertainment were poor and often boring. It was definately not worth the price. Other guests were commenting that they had stayed in several less expensive all-inclusive resorts for half the price and had much more fun and way better entertainment. The mosquitos were everywhere in our room too due to missing or torn screens. My brother was getting married there and the set up they had for them was very cheesy. They also didn't tell him to bring the correct paperwork so they ended up having a mock-wedding since they didn't have all the forms they needed and now have to go to the courthouse back in the states.

Room Number:
330

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
clean beaches, pools, and grounds. :)

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
kayaking and the hobie cat sailing was fun, but the snorkeling tour was not good. Worse snorkling, according to my brother, who has snorkeled a lot around the carribean.

My husband and I chose the St James Club for our honeymoon. We thought that having 2 beaches, one on Marmora Bay and the other on the Atlantic would guarantee us good swimming and beach time. The beaches were our biggest disappointment. Marmora Bay is shallow and the beach is white sand; but there is grass growing throughout the area designated for swimming. Not exactly crystal clear waters. There were hardly any people in the water. There were a lot of little children playing on the shore. Watching them was the best entertainment we had.
The Atlantic side is worse. Not only is there more grass everywhere, on the beach and in the water. There are also jellyfish. I don't know if the water was affected by the extreme heat and lack of precipitation but we expected a lot better since the beach was rated a 4 on some websites. We spent most afternoons just lounging on the Atlantic side because of the palm trees and breeze; it was extremely hot.
Now the resort is beautiful and we loved the food and the red wine served with our meals. Every night we had wonderful meals served a la carte and we had a buffet for breakfast and lunch. Antigua imports everything so the fruit and vegetables are limited but the food was definitely prepared by professional chefs and the staff was pleasant.
It's a good thing we were on our honeymoon and only booked a week. We were basically alone all the time. No one spoke to us much, the odd hello. We were the only Canadians. There was a young couple with a little girl from the States. Everyone else was from the UK. In fact, St James Club is the vacation resort used by Virgin Airlines for their staff. As I alluded earlier, the entertainment is sorely lacking. There were no activiteis during the day that were evident; they were planned but no participants. At night, some piano music and such during dinner was pretty much it. One evening they brought a guy who eats fire; that lasted less than half an hour. Mostly the few guests that were around in the evening were drinking in the bar.
My husband was disappointed that such a pricey resort did not provide a fridge in the room. But it was a nice rest, and we really needed that. We basically swam in the Bay in the morning, suntanned, had some drinks on the beach; ate lunch; lounged on the Atlantic beach in the afternoon; got ready for supper. Went to the lounge for some more of the excellent red wine before heading to bed. We also stopped by for afternoon tea on some days, served between 3 and 5.
We did book an excusrion to Barbuda and we loved that although it cost nearly $300 US for the trip. We travelled on a catamaran, they served a nice barbecuse lunch, and we got to swim in the prisctine ,clear waters of a Barbuda beach. That was heaven for us and that's where we would like to go again.

My husband and I are in our early fortys and just returned from St. James Club in Antigua. We found the resort to be very clean and staff very courteous. They tend to keep to themselves as to respect your privacy and not interfere with your vacation unless you seek out their company and conversation then they are more than willing to engage. The food was unbelievably good. All three meals, something was offered for everyones taste. We travel to the Caribbean every year and the food is usually my least favorite but in Antigua the food was excellent. If you are looking for relaxation and quite this is the place to be. Very, Very quiet. I would not recommend this resort for anyone who enjoys a lot of activity or nightlife. After dinner you wonder where everyone has gone. The entertainment is very low key and very limited. The on-site casino had just closed 2 weeks prior to our arrival due to low profits. They also require appropriate dress after 6:30pm - no shorts except on casual night Sndays and Thursdays. Again this resort is great for peace, rest and relaxation but not recommended for the young night owls. I'd give it a 3 1/2 star.

Date of travel: 01/09/04 for 10 nights
Travelled with Virgin Holidays direct from London Gatwick booked on Virgin Website
We have just returned from a great holiday at St James Club in Antigua. Virgin were a fantastic travel company to go with, speed of booking and excelllent flight.
We arrived at the hotel and was booked in quickley and efficiently and was taken to our room. We received a premier room even though we only booked a standard which was a bonus and we had a great sea view. I have to say that for a 4 star hotel (UK rating), the rooms were a little tired and in need of a freshen up, new floor tiles and furniture, the rooms were large but not used to their best. I was also surprised that as we were all inclusive there were no fridge or any cold drinks in the room, if you wanted a drink in the middle of the night, you went thirsty unless you drank coffee, we had to buy water and soft drinks from the shop,having been to an all inclusive resort before (Riu Bambu in Dom Republic) and had a fridge and soft drinks we expected the same. I have to add that the rooms were spotless and were kept that way all week, the maids were happy and friendly and came every day. I could not fault the cleanliness of the whole hotel, not just the rooms

Flight & Arrival:
Date of travel: 01/09/04 for 10 nights

Travelled with Virgin Holidays direct from London Gatwick booked on Virgin Website

We have just returned from a great holiday at St James Club in Antigua. Virgin were a fantastic travel company to go with, speed of booking and excelllent flight.

We arrived at the hotel and was booked in quickley and efficiently and was taken to our room. We received a premier room even though we only booked a standard which was a bonus and we had a great sea view. I have to say that for a 4 star hotel (UK rating), the rooms were a little tired and in need of a freshen up, new floor tiles and furniture, the rooms were large but not used to their best. I was also surprised that as we were all inclusive there were no fridge or any cold drinks in the room, if you wanted a drink in the middle of the night, you went thirsty unless you drank coffee, we had to buy water and soft drinks from the shop,having been to an all inclusive resort before (Riu Bambu in Dom Republic) and had a fridge and soft drinks we expected the same. I have to add that the rooms were spotless and were kept that way all week, the maids were happy and friendly and came every day. I could not fault the cleanliness of the whole hotel, not just the rooms

Food:
The food was good, some meals better than others, 3 good restaurants to choose from, Coco's, Dockside (this was the best due to location) and the Rainbow. Some days were buffet some says al a carte. I have to admit that if you were not all inclusive it would have been an expensive holiday eating in the restaurants. We didn't used the Piccolo Mondolo as it was an extra $35 per person to eat here even if you were all inclusive and I think the docksider was a far better restaurant. Drinks were always in the plenty, but if you had soft drinks they had so much ice and so little drink in the glass that you had to keep asking for another all the time.
The burgers from the Grill in Mamora bay were great, especially if you wanted a snack whilst you were on the beach and didn't want to have to get dressed to go to lunch.

Beach & Pool:
The location was great, but I was dissappointed with the beach, cocos beach is on the atlantic and is not what I expected, it was nice but not clear white sands and crystal clear waters, the beach at memora bay was clean and well laid out but the water was not exactly clear like I would expect in the caribbean, again this is probably due to being on the atlantic. Not a typical carribbean beach like some of them in the island

The pool areas were disappointing, very concrety and did not use the views to the best, could have installed glass areas around the pool so you could see the view of bay but they were hidden by the concrete walls. The pools were very un appealing for a large hotel resort. No swim up bar either

Excursion:
Definately recommend a helicopter ride from Jolly harbour $130 per person for 30 mins, a great way to see the island, trouble is you then see some of the fabulous blue sea beaches and realise the the beach in the hotel is not as good as you would expect from the brochure you see.

Grounds:
I have to say that some of the grounds of the hotel could have been better, when you take the Ocean Walk around the grounds, they are in need of an overhaul and are over grown and generally untidy, the garden areas in the main complex are great but the outside areas need to be looked at. The pathways are uneven and not very well lit at night, could be dangerous. (only the pathways around the edge of the hotel, the ones in the main area are OK)

Other comments:
Overall the holiday was great, good service, people were great, no great nightlife though, if all you want is to sit on a sun lounger all day and eat and drink, then great, if you want evening entertainement, then forget it, its not that sort of place. They have the odd kareoke but very low key. The casino is OK, nice and air conditioned and nice ambience.

I think that this hotel could achieve a 5 star if they put in a letter more effort with an upgrade and tidy up. They have not made the most of the grounds as much as they could have done and its a great shame.

At the moment I would rate the hotel as a 3 star +, but not a 4. I would go back to Antigua but I would pick one of the hotels that I saw from the helicopter as it had the beaches that I had always dreamed off which were not at St James Club

My Husband and I and another couple(all in our late 50's) went to St. James Club from June 18-25th. We have been to other all-inclusives in the Caribbean.....Sandals/Antigua and Paradisus Punta Cana/Dominican Rep, so; this is what we had to compare St. James Club to. All we can say is that St. James Club is really a semi-all-inclusive! This resort was not always an all-inclusive and you still have the option of non-all-inclusive or all-inclusive. We chose the all-inclusive plan. We paid approximately $4,344.00 per couple U.S.
Our first impression was with the arrivals lobby in the resort. Very small area, small reception desk and a girl serving welcome drinks from pitchers in a cooler. Sandals and Paradisus have enormous lobbies, beautifully appointed and welcome drinks served on plates by waitresses. Arrived at about 3:30pm and room was not ready and had to go to a restaurant for a drink and something to eat. Food was from a very limited menu and just about the same limited menus in all four restaurants everyday. Not one restaurant was enclosed and air conditioned, all were open and the heat and humidity oppressive. Beach was not in very good shape, small huts, bay side was in better shape. Only nice touch was a girl riding a cart on the beach and bay to serve drinks to guests.
Can only order "house wines", red and white. If you wanted White Zinfandel you had to buy the bottle, which in the US costs about $7.00, they wanted $28.00 per bottle. Every dinner menu has premium items on it, such as steaks and seafood which are an additional $18.00 surcharge per person. The Piccolo Mondo restaurant was the better of the four and that was at a cost of $35.00 pp charge, but, we knew this before booking this trip. We ate there twice during the week, but, the heat was so oppressive and humidity so high, you really couldn't eat in comfort. I had to leave dinner early one evening and go back to the room and get into the air-conditioning to cool off. Casino is small but adequate for a Caribbean resort. Room service is not included in all-inclusive, you have to pay for what you order and then there is an $8.00 charge to deliver it and tax. There is virtually nothing to do there at night. The best evening we had was the night we left the resort to take a taxi to the other side of the island to a new restaurant that just opened recently and had a casino downstairs. It was air-conditioned and most comfortable.
The only plus that we can think of is the people of Antigua are the nicest people we have ever met and they really try to make your stay enjoyable.
St. James Club management really needs to sink some money into this place to bring it up to date if they want to attract any US Citizens. If they want to charge these prices for an all-inclusive, then they have to offer much more!

Just recently found this site but felt it was important to submit this. We stayed at SJC in May 2005. This was our first Caribbean trip and definitely not our last. For our first trip we had no predetermined expectations. All we had to go on were a few travel brochures and the internet. Well, this resort has set the bar for us for any other trip that we have or will go on!

Arrival:
Just recently found this site but felt it was important to submit this. We stayed at SJC in May 2005. This was our first Caribbean trip and definitely not our last. For our first trip we had no predetermined expectations. All we had to go on were a few travel brochures and the internet. Well, this resort has set the bar for us for any other trip that we have or will go on!
The trip from the airport is a blast. Sorry I should say that any cab ride in Antigua is a blast, but maybe not so much for the faint at heart. Word of advice if you are not used to the heat bring a change of clothes to change into on the plane. The most of the cabs from the airport only have “island air conditioning” and SJC is about 30mins from the airport.
Got to the resort and all I can say was wow wow wow! We had flown for a total of 9 hrs and were in the state of drop jaw. The lush vegetation, quaint location, and appearance of the resort indicated to me that we were in for a wonderful trip.

Room:
We got to our rooms after a speedy check-in and were pleasantly surprised, after hearing from friends about other horror stories from other places in the Caribbean. We were on a company trip with about 90 or so people that all arrived within minutes of each other. The check-in was handled extremely well; I can say that hotels at home would have been a bunch of bumbling idiots trying to handle this. Our room was large enough that it could have had two king size beds in it. Clean? YES Very clean. The bathroom was huge with a double sink and a huge lounger style tub/shower. The view of the ocean from our second floor balcony was great, even though we had a huge palm tree right out front. Probably the only thing that was missing was a mini fridge. BIG DEAL! If you wanted something kept cold there was always an ice bucket. Our A/C worked well but not great, it did the job. Others said that their A/C worked too well.
All in all ROOMS were 100%.

Food & Drinks:
Next is food. Hmm all I can say is that we ate like kings. Not one complaint from us about the food. Quality, quantity absolutely nothing wrong in this department. Yes the restaurants have no A/C, but they are all “open air” they have virtually no walls. You are in the Caribbean for the heat and sun not the A/C. I would rather have a Caribbean breeze keeping my food hot than A/C cooling my food before I can finish.
Food was 100%

This will be short. Alcohol flowed in copious amounts, not watered down, no short pours.
Alcohol 100%

Probably the only thing that was lacking was that there was no late night food available, except I think you could get room service $$ up until 11pm. That being said the staff would gladly wrap up some food from the buffet for a late night snack. And the lack of big production entertainment shows and organized activities, like we have since seen in the Dominican. Don’t get me wrong there was still entertainment but it was pretty low key.

This not that kind of resort, it is quiet with no loud pounding music by the pool and no late night partying. This is truly a place that you can get lost in relaxation from dusk till dawn. After supper you virtually can find no one except at the casino.

A few short notes.:
Beaches were great but I liked the ocean side better than the bay side. You get a breeze off the ocean to help keep the temperature down a bit and I like the sound of the waves. We didn’t get harassed by beach vendors like we did in the Dominican.

Staff were extremely helpful, pleasant and always happy as are all people in Antigua. We both always felt very safe.

If you do venture into St. Johns visit Nick Maley’s store. He is a wonderful artist, also the creator of Yoda. As well look for the market in between Heritage Quay and Redcliffe Quay, you can get most of your souvenirs here. And yes they do barter; don’t be afraid to walk away. You can always find it elsewhere in the market. Make sure you have US$$ and East Caribbean $$. Travel by taxi use US$ you get a better deal. For the most part use US$$, but it never hurts to ask how much it is in each currency. But always start asking how much something is in EC$.

Overall as I said before this resort is the bench mark for us. I know that there are other higher rated resorts but I think that this ones star rating is under rated.